Highland girls pull away late, defeat Jerseyville for MVC road victory

Easy games have been far from the norm for the Highland girls basketball team early in the 2023-24 season.

Friday night at Jerseyville was another challenge for the Bulldogs.

Highland got tested and rose to the occasion once again.

Leading by only three with under 5 minutes left, Lauren Maas keyed an 8-2 run down the stretch and Highland prevailed for a hard fought 44-35 Mississippi Valley Conference Road victory.

“It was good getting to 3-0 in the conference and finding a way to win ugly, but it was good that’s kind of the mark of a team that starting to figure it out a bit I think,” Highland coach Clint Hamilton said.

Highland, which got to .500 with the win (5-5, 3-0 in MVC play) started well early as Larissa Taylor and Abby Schultz combined for 13 points in the first three minutes, heling stake the Bulldogs to a quick 14-7 lead.

Jerseyville (4-5, 1-3) responded with an 8-0 run capped by a Casey Kallal three-point play to take a 15-14 lead into the second quarter.

“We got off to a nice start and then we lost sight of a few things defensively and made some shots and the Crawford girl (Tessa) had a really good game,” Hamilton said.

Highland came back late in the half and took the lead at the break 19-18 thanks to a pair of Taylor free throws.

Highland maintained control until the fourth quarter, but an 8-point surge capped by a Tessa Crawford three-ball pulled Jersey within 36-33 with 4:38 to go.

But Maas dropped in a pair of driving layups, triggering the closing run that locked up the win for HHS.

“We did a nice job handing the ball for the most part, not turning it over and when you can win with the other team’s possessions toward the end of the game, that really helps, especially when you can get quality shots on your end,” Hamilton said. “I thought Lauren did a nice job of getting downhill and get a couple of layups and Abby and Larissa got a couple of buckets down there to extend the lead out to 10.”

Hamilton was also pleased to get sophomore point guard Jordan Bircher back on the floor for her first meaningful minutes since suffering a wrist injury in the opener against Centralia on Nov. 16.

Bircher in limited minutes controlled the offense, provided defensive help on Crawford and brought big energy to the Bulldogs backcourt.

“She played in the Belleville West game for about a minute and today was her fist rea game back with same action and just to have her in there for ball handling purposes and defensive purposes-she brings lot of energy and she’s very heady and smart and it was nice to get her back on the floor tonight,” Hamilton said.

Taylor and Schultz paced Highland with 14 and 13 points, respectively.

Crawford ed Jerseyville with a game-high 22 points followed by Meredith Gray with eight points.

This story was originally published December 9, 2023 at 10:02 AM.